I was the only breadwinner for my family.

My name is Arefa and I am a women’s rights activist who has been working in this field for seven years. In 2019, we established a civil society organization that helps people in the areas of health, education and humanitarian assistance [and sometimes gender-based violence].

After the Taliban takeover, we started to distribute humanitarian aid. We wanted to distribute clothes but at one point the Taliban in the region opposed it. However, after learning that this aid was being distributed to children, they allowed it and introduced us to some of their families so that they could obtain this aid. That is how we can distribute aid – by adding a few of them to the list, we are able to continue our work. Also, we ran programmes in the health sector, on COVID-19, and health awareness for women, but after the Taliban takeover, we couldn’t continue these.

Over the past year, the most important change has been the restrictions imposed on us … as we are not allowed to work or do advocacy. When we want to travel from one region to another, we must have a mahram.[1] But we have to understand that there are women who do not have male family members and are the only providers for the family.

I was the only breadwinner for my family.

The only thing women activists can do for women in the current situation is to launch projects with the help of international organizations. Through these projects, they can provide online [or home-based] classes for those girls who are banned from going to university or from getting jobs for the past year and a half. All of this is possible if funding is available.

As we heard and have experienced, the Taliban have no problem with the provision of health services or the distribution of humanitarian aid. They want humanitarian aid to be distributed to the people because this is also for their benefit. But because the Taliban have problems with girls’ education and do not allow them to go to school, home-based classes can be established and we can secretly provide lessons under the name of madrasa.[1]

Currently, due to a lack of funding, we have formed online courses for girls through WhatsApp. We have a total of 150 students. Three other teachers and I teach difficult school subjects such as English and science, for free.

However, because most students do not have mobile phones and teachers have Internet problems, we plan to set up home-based classes. But running these kinds of classes requires a budget, so we’re waiting for an organization to provide funding.